Dark Times at Tython High
by Elysium94
Summary: Rey is a simple girl with a simple goal: the Skywalker scholarship. But as she befriends the lovable Finn Block, the brash rebel Poe Dameron and the short-fused Ben Solo they learn high school is anything but simple. Together they face pranks, angst and a school rivalry for the ages. And they find the answer to the question, "What if the Star Wars universe was an 80's teen movie?"
1. Traitor!

"I feel it again. The pull to the Light."

In the pitch blackness of his quarters, Kylo Ren knelt before the gruesome mask of Darth Vader. Clenching his fists in frustration he allowed his anger to course through every fiber of his being and felt the Dark Side wash over him.

"Show me again the power of the darkness," he whispered to Vader's mask. "And I will let nothing stand in our way."

Ren leaned in closer, his eyes boring deep into the black sockets of the ghostly image before him.

"Show me… Grandfather. And I will finish what you sta-"

Before he could say another word, a bright light blasted into the dark lord's room, blinding him.

" _AAAAH!_ "

Reeling, he fell onto his back and rubbed his eyes in a panic. It was quite a pitiful sight, the self-professed dark lord writhing on the floor of his room in agony from just a burst of sunlight.

"What you're going to finish is your breakfast, mister ' _dark and broody_ ', and then you're getting a move on before you're late. Again."

Looming over the disoriented youth was his father. Dressed in a dark blue uniform, Han Solo had turned rather grizzled with age. He tapped his foot impatiently and pointed outside.

"Come on. If you take off now, you might just make it in time even in that jalopy of yours."

"The Silencer is not a jalopy…" his son groaned.

Han walked out of the boy's room, only slowing down once to shoot a disturbed look at the antique helmet on the nightstand. "Call it what you want, kiddo. Until you bother to polish it up and get a muffler that doesn't make it sound like some off-key Hut instrument, it's a jalopy as far as I'm concerned."

For a solid minute Ben Solo, angst-ridden blogger that sometimes went by "Kylo Ren" and the single most irresponsible senior in his high school, stared at his ceiling.

Hating absolutely everything and everyone.

" _Damn it._ "

* * *

 **STAR WARS: DARK TIMES AT TYTHON HIGH**

 _ **Episode I:**_

 _ **TRAITOR!**_

* * *

It was five minutes until the first bell when Rey parked her swoop bike in the parking lot. Peering at her watch she smiled, brushing a lock of dark brown hair out of her face. It was going to be a chilly day on in Coruscant, so she already had on her favorite white and blue hoodie.

"Just in time."

Picking up the pace Rey walked quickly to the gymnasium. It was already the end of the first week, and the first major rally of the school year was about to begin. She had a full schedule, a sandwich packed for the day and had finally managed to snatch a class with the most loved teacher at the school.

It was almost enough to make her forget her dreary apartment.

She reached the entrance and gaped in awe at the dazzling sight inside. The gymnasium at Tython High was a massive structure lined with bleachers large enough to seat around two thousand students, most of whom were already seated. A transparisteel skylight made up most of the ceiling, giving Rey a view of the bright blue sky. Even the floor of the gym itself was impressive, a steely grey floor emblazoned with the bright blue 'Jedi' logo of the school.

The sight still entranced Rey, even after four years.

Rey looked for a spot at the senior area, eventually finding one opening beside a green Twi'lek girl. The girl was dressed in a threadbare old jacket and thick-rimmed glasses. She had a pair of headphones over the horn-like protrusion that acted at her ears, and she was clearly enjoying whatever tune she was listening to as she swayed from side to side.

"Um, excuse me?"

When the girl did not respond Rey knelt in front of her, tapping her on the shoulder. The Twi'lek opened her eyes and yelped as she jolted upright, and Rey leaned back to avoid one of the girl's lekku hitting whipping her in the face.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," the alien girl said. Her cheeks flushed a darker green and she looked at the empty spot next to her. "Go ahead, I wasn't saving it."

Rey smiled. "Thanks." She sat down and gave the girl a grateful nod. "I'm Rey. What's your name?"

"Oola. Sorry about the seat thing, I just get a little caught up in the music sometimes…"

"It's fine," Rey said and waved her hand. "I know how you feel." She looked down at the datapad in Oola's hand. "If you don't mind me asking, which song were you listening to?"

Oola pocketed the phone and finally grinned back. "Just one of Max Rebo's latest singles. There's nobody better than Max, I hope I can catch that upcoming concert in a few months."

Rey was more of a Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes kind of girl, but she nodded along. The two were interrupted however when a loud bell rang, and every head in the gym turned to the stage at the front of the building. Two speakers began to play the school's rather hokey old anthem, and a middle-aged woman in an elegant blue dress took a stand behind a podium.

Leia Organa Solo's hair was tied into a bun and her face was projected over a screen on the wall behind her. She was wearing a bright smile as she looked over the crowd and gave a friendly wave. "Morning, everyone. Now that everybody's well and settled, I'd like to officially welcome you all to another wonderful year at Tython!"

Her voice was authoritative yet reassuring and listening to her immediately gave Rey a sense of comfort. She'd been lucky enough to meet the vice principal twice, but only as a quick hello and goodbye.

"For those of you coming back, well, welcome back. For those who are new here, my name is Vice Principal Leia Organa Solo. I'd like to make a few remarks before handing things off to our principal…"

Leia pulled out a small remote and clicked it, and the screen showed a montage of class photos from years back. Looking closely Rey was able to spot Leia as part of the class of 1983 before many others flashed past.

"Here at Tython, we hope to prepare you for whatever career you choose to follow. Perhaps you'll end up majoring in political science and move to Coruscant. The big city can always use bright young minds to help us all move forward.

Maybe you'll study history, or the arts, or try out for any of our fine sports teams. Like the soccer captains, celebrating their third year straight as state champions…"

There was a chorus of cheers, with Rey and Oola joining in. Many of the student looked up high into the bleachers, and Rey almost swooned at the sight of the soccer captain Poe Dameron. His hair seemed to have grown out since last year, and the star athlete gave a dazzling smile to the rest of his class.

"Yes, yes. We're all looking forward to seeing what they pull of _this_ year. Just as we look forward to the accomplishments of everyone in our drama department, debate team, engineering club and many more.

Now, let's give a warm welcome to our principal, Professor Sheev Palpatine."

Rey stifled a giggle. It was not very likely she would ever get used to such a successful, well-loved professor having a first name like "Sheev".

Professor Palpatine's smiling, grandfatherly face took the place of Leia's on the screen and he gave a respectful nod to Leia as the audience clapped. "Thank you for those kind words, Mrs. Solo."

He cleared his throat before pulling up a sheet, having apparently written down his remarks well beforehand.

"Every student walking through our door has a bright future ahead of them, no matter where they come from or what talents they may possess.

I hope you all take full advantage of the opportunities present, as we will take every chance to help you.

Welcome to Tython, and good luck to you all."

Setting the paper down Palpatine gave a shrug and a sheepish smile. "That's all I have for now. I figured I would keep things nice and short."

There were echoes of laughter here and there as Palpatine proceeded to announce some new policies, and the date of the first football game the following week.

But from the edge of the bleachers Rey heard someone scoffing. It was soft, barely audible, but it was there.

Rey looked down to see who it was. The source of the noise was a tall, lanky boy with messy black hair. So much of his clothing was black that it was almost comical. Black shoes, a black shirt, a black hoodie pulled over his head and even a black leather jacket.

"Oola, who's that sitting in the corner?"

"Hm?" Oola looked at where Rey was pointing and then quickly turned away, her face blushing again.

"Oh dear. You don't know who Ben Solo is?"

* * *

It was lunchtime in the cafeteria, and Rey still couldn't help stealing a glance at Ben Solo as she walked by his table. As respected members of her community and famous graduates of Tython, Rey had heard plenty of stories of the two. From all accounts, and the brief times she had met Leia, they sounded like two of the most lovely people around.

It was hard to believe some brooding goth boy with a perpetual frown and no friends to speak of was their son. He was even sitting by himself, something she did not even think happened outside of the movies.

Rey was staring at him, carrying a tray's worth of food and a bottle of green milk when she heard a voice from her right shout out, "Woah, careful!"

Her heart almost leapt out of her chest. Rey whipped her head back forward in time to see an astromech droid moving into her path. She wavered, knowing she wasn't going to be able to stop herself in time.

A strong grip pulled her out of the droid's path, however. When she was sure she has a sure enough grip on her tray to keep it from spilling, Rey looked at her helper. He was a boy, just an inch or two taller than she was and dressed in a Tython jersey.

"Thanks," Rey said breathlessly.

"Don't mention it." The boy looked at the droid with a shake of his head, running his hands across his closely shaved head of hair. "Stupid droid. You'd think it would at least let out a beep or something."

Turning his attention back to her the boy asked, "You okay?"

"No, I'm good…" Rey's voice trailed off as she took a closer look at the boy, and after another moment she cocked her head. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"I don't know," the boy said and shrugged off the question. "You sure you're alright? You didn't drop anything did you?"

Rey said "I'm good," again. But her eyes widened at something on the boy's chest and she gasped before remarking, "You know what, scratch that, we are _far_ from good."

"What?"

The boy looked down before grimacing. His grey and blue jersey was stained with a splash of hot chocolate. As if the sight was not embarrassing enough, the dark spots were still steaming.

"Ooh, that's gonna piss Poe off. He just texted me to ask if I wanted to take a photo and I said yes."

" _I don't think you should be worrying about Poe._ "

A look of horror set in on the boy's face.

"Aw, hell."

Rey looked around him and gulped. Behind her classmate, his front splashed with even more cocoa, was Ben Solo. His face was set in perhaps the most terrifying glare Rey had ever seen, and she had seen photos of the Grievous gang.

"Heeeeeeeey… How's it going, uh, buddy?" The boy in the jersey put on a painfully forced grin and turned around to look at Ben Solo.

Ben rose to his full height, towering over them both. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

If it were not for the table still separating the two, Rey had a feeling the darkly dressed young man would be ready to throttle her new friend.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Ben. No I didn't."

"It's not his fault," Rey bleated, " _I_ spilled..."

"You just can't leave well enough alone," Ben Solo growled. "Can you?"

"Should I be going somewhere?" Rey asked uncomfortably.

The boy looked back and forth between Ben and Rey with an awkward laugh before his face turned blank. "Yeah, probably."

Before she could so much as blink again Ben Solo had leapt on top of the table and streaked right past Rey.

" _TRAITOR!_ "

The startled girl watched in utter disbelief as the two boys tackled each other to the floor, bumping into a nearby table and causing several girls to scream.

Losing her balance Rey could not keep herself from falling onto her butt. Grunting in pain she watched the two wrestle in a way that seemed more appropriate for kindergarteners than seniors at high school.

Whoever her friend was, he was clearly no friend to the delinquent Oola had talked about for about five minutes straight.

People started to gather around their corner of the cafeteria, cheering on the display. Rey spotted Oola and another girl watching from their table. The Twi'lek's face sank into her palm.

Leaning back in place Rey sighed in disappointment.

"Great," she mumbled. "First week, and you helped start a fight with the whole damn school watching.

This is going to be a long fucking year."

* * *

 **Author's Note: And here we kickoff an episodic sendup of Star Wars in the flavor of Ferris Bueller, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and of course The Breakfast Club. Perhaps even some Harry Potter sprinkled in there.**

 **The new trilogy is pretty divisive to say the least, but in the end we're all Star Wars fans. There will be no mean spirited jabs to one end of the fanbase or another, just a spoof that gives the various good guys and bad guys of Star Wars a new spin.**

 **No intergalactic wars, just tough sports matches.**

 **No murdering or mutilating of family members, just lots and LOTS of angst.**

 **But there will be hijinks, there will be danger, and there will be hormones abound.**

 **Welcome to Tython High. Keep up your best behavior.**

 **The school ghosts are watching!**


	2. Rough Start

The hall outside the counselor's office was infamous for how quiet it was. There was a rumor going around that it was tweaked by some crackpot building engineer to be soundproof, so any student waiting for a disciplinary meeting would be forced to sit there in complete silence.

So here Rey was, siting opposite the chocolate-soaked boy from the cafeteria as Ben Solo faced whatever discipline the school had in store for him this time. She rested the back of her head against the wall, swearing under her breath.

This was decidedly _not_ how she imagined the start of her big year.

Hearing a sniff Rey looked at the boy, who was adjusting a blood-soaked wad of tissue jammed up his nose. It looked like he was going to be sporting a black eye as well. The tussle between him and Solo had gotten rather intense before the campus security bots were able to separate them.

"Are you feeling all right?" she asked.

"What, this?" The boy pointed at his nose and scoffed. "I've had worse."

Rey looked at his bruised face and his dirtied clothes, wondering what other kinds of trouble he was speaking of. And then, as if someone had flashed a light right in her face, she finally recognized him.

"Wait, I do know you. You're Finn Block, the new linebacker!"

Finn looked down at his jersey with a proud smile, despite its still fresh stains. "Yeah." The smile vanished however and he looked back up. "Hold on, do I know _you_?"

"We live on the same street. I'm at the apartment building, 992 Jakku Place. I've seen you around."

Holding out her hand excitedly she said, "I'm Rey, Rey Croft."

Finn took her hand and Rey tried not to squeal. Everyone knew Poe Dameron from the soccer team was the popular, stereotypical jock with an attitude. But after catching a glimpse of him next door last spring, Rey had always wanted to meet the "all-around good guy" of the football team, Finn Block. And now here she was, shaking hands with him.

Perhaps the year was looking up after all.

* * *

 **STAR WARS: DARK TIMES AT TYTHON HIGH**

 ** _Episode II:_**

 ** _Rough Start_**

* * *

"I'm not going to sugarcoat things, my boy. This year will be quite difficult if your behavior does not improve.

We are all _very_ disappointed."

Slouching in his chair and holding a bag of ice against a scrape on his forehead, Ben Solo listened to the elderly school counselor go on and on. It was nothing new. Ben was wasting his life, the old man told him, he had so much more potential than this.

"I thought you had put your grievances with Mr. Block and Mr. Dameron behind you. Surely a simple misunderstanding can't undo all of that?"

"A misunderstanding?" Ben sat up angrily. "He spilled a hot drink on me right in front of a stranger!"

Setting down his glasses and taking a death breath from his breathing aid, the counselor of Tython High raised his eyebrows at Ben.

"Yes, he did," Saw Gerrera answered. "But I've spoken with Finn already, and I understand this was an accident. Nothing more."

Ben crossed his arms and scowled. "And how do you know he wasn't lying?"

"I have made great progress in helping students open up and be honest," Gerrera said proudly, "With the help of my friend, Bor Gullet."

In the corner of the office a deep warbling drew Ben's attention, and his stomach turned as he glanced at the tentacled creature staring at him. At least, Ben thought it was looking at him. With its blank, milky white eyes it was hard to tell.

"You're joking right?"

"No," Gerrera said. "Matters of the truth between a student and their faculty are no joke."

Ben's face fell into his hands. "Mr. Gerrera, you're using a giant… octopus… _thing_ to counsel students. I don't know who's got bigger issues, me or you!"

Gerrera's rather lopsided eyes bulged and he raised a finger emphatically. " _Bor Gullet knows the truth! No lie is safe from us!_ "

Ben closed his eyes and sighed.

 _Great. As if things weren't bad enough, now the old man's about to have another episode._

He reached down to the desk between them and adjusted the tank supplying Gerrera with fresh air.

Lowering his hand Gerrera took a moment to compose himself, breathing in deeply. "Apologies, Ben. You know my feelings on honesty."

He set the breather down and added, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Ben allowed himself a smile. "So, detention, right?"

Gerrera's smiled back sadly. "Yes. I am afraid so."

Gerrera handed Ben a schedule detailing his planned detention; an entire school day assisting the school librarian, next Monday.

"We have already informed your parents. Finn will be joining you in detention that day, and you will both be supervised…"

Ben's eyes widened, and he nearly crushed the paper in his hand. "What?"

"Don't bother." Gerrera waved his hand curtly. "This involves you both, so you will both receive the same discipline for your actions. Besides, I thought you would be glad to know Finn is held as responsible for the fight as you."

Opening his mouth to say something and then closing it again, Ben let out a shaky breath, making no effort to hide his frustration. The last thing he wanted right now was to spend an entire day with Finn.

After wrestling with himself for a while Ben took a pen signed the bottom of the paper irritably. He had been around the block enough times at this point to get know there was no point in arguing with Gerrera, not now.

But his parents on the other hand…

That, he was _not_ looking forward to.

"Okay. I'll do it."

* * *

Rey rapped her fingers against the handles on her bike, waiting for the traffic light to finally turn green. It was the middle of the afternoon, and after the insanity that was today she was ready to go back to her boring apartment and rest. She only hoped that, when she came back Monday, at least some of the cafeteria wouldn't recognize her.

Ben Solo would be smart to hope they didn't run into each other again. Because of his little tantrum, she had to miss class with the teacher she was looking forward to more than anyone.

Luke Skywalker.

There was a loud roar of an engine from her right. A sleek, razor-like speeder pulled up next to her, its red pinstriping mark giving its driver away before the window even rolled down.

"Oh, hey Galen. Hey Juno."

Galen Marek took off his sunglasses, smiling at her. Next to him in the passenger seat was his girlfriend Juno, who gave Rey a friendly wave.

"Hey," Galen said cheekily. "Heard your first week got pretty exciting!"

Rey's face reddened. "Oh, up yours! You got into some nice scrapes back in your day, if you'd like I can tell Juno a story about any one of them."

A recent college dropout-turned-racer, Galen gave a knowing smile to Juno. "How do you think I got _her_ attention, Rey?" He looked back at Rey and added, "Look, I get it, it's embarrassing as all hell. But give it a few years, you'll look back and laugh."

"I wish I shared your optimism," Rey said bitterly.

Galen's face softened. It looked like he was realizing just how disappointed Rey really was.

"You're going to be okay," Juno said. "If you need to talk, just give me a ring. The restaurant at the end of Fifth and Ahch-To just reopened and they're serving the best burger I've ever had."

The light in front of them went green at last, and Rey revved up her bike.

"Thanks. If today was any sign of things to come, I might have to take you guys up on that offer."

Waving at the racer she drove off, reaching the highway soon after. Sliding into the speeder-bike lane she shifted her ride into full gear. A cruise all by herself never failed to clear her head, and as she watched the city skyline go by Rey smiled, ready to leave today's debacle behind.

* * *

It was well into the evening when Rey was sitting on her porch alone, sipping out of a can of Jawa Juice when her pocket commlink rang. She jumped, not expecting a call at this hour.

She pulled the device out and checked the name.

 _Ben Solo_

"What the…" Rubbing her eyes Rey looked at the comlink again, wondering if she was seeing things. But no, sure enough it was Solo's name flashing in front of her.

Rey set it down on the table slowly. If he was calling to apologize, that was all fine, but she would rather talk to him about it in person.

There was a beep, and sure enough an image of Ben popped up as his message was recorded. He was running his hands through his hair awkwardly, and wearing the kind of look that clearly said ' _I don't want to be doing this_ '.

" _Hi, there. Now, first off I just wanted to let you know my folks gave me the directory to get this number. I didn't stalk you or anything…_ "

Something offscreen caused Ben to frown and wave his hand angrily. It was most likely "the folks", Rey realized as she chuckled. The poor bastard's parents were probably breathing down his neck as he was talking.

" _Anyway, I wanted to apologize for what happened today. I don't know you, you don't know me, and I can't imagine I made a very good impression._ "

"No," Rey muttered to herself. "You _really_ didn't."

" _Whatever issues I've got with some of the other students here, I shouldn't be getting some stranger wrapped up in it. But I did, and I'm sorry._ "

Ben paused, his jaw working furiously.

" _In case I run into you Monday, I don't want things to get awkward. So… Yeah. Sorry again, Rey. I hope you enjoy your weekend, or…_ "

His rolled his eyes, evidently at a loss for words.

Letting out a deep breath he said, " _See you around,_ " and the message ended.

Rey sat in silence, looking at the comlink. She wanted to believe the boy's message, but with how painfully stilted it was and the massive effort it was taking him to even say what he said Ben was not making it easy for her.

"I guess we'll find out," she said to herself and downed another gulp of her juice before switching on her T.V. and settled in for the weekend.

While it lasted.

* * *

Ben set his comlink down and looked up at his parents, waiting for them to lay it on him. His mouth was drawn in a thin line in embarrassment, and he mentally kicked himself for somehow managing to screw up a damn voicemail.

"Well…" Han Solo drawled. "That wasn't at all forced, now was it?"

"For crying out loud, Dad," Ben shot back, "What did you expect with the two of you just standing there?"

Leia looked almost entertained. But it went away quickly and she sat down face-to-face with Ben. "Now, I can guess you're probably a little tired after what happened today. And judging by that swelling head of yours you're already paying for it. So for tonight we're just going to let you think about it.

In the morning, however, we are going to sit down and have a serious talk about what to do going forward."

She stood up and walked away to check on dinner. When she was gone Ben's eyes drifted to the door to the garage. His thoughts moved to driving downtown, and perhaps a game of cards to take his mind off all this.

But Han quickly put all that to rest. "Oh ho, ho, I don't think so." Ben's spirits dropped as Han reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny object. A ring holding the keys to every one of their cars.

"No joy rides tonight, young man."

The two glared at each other, and Ben thought about saying something to his dad he would likely regret almost instantly.

But a strange feeling then washed over the room, some presence that caused Ben to, for a moment, lose his focus. He turned to the front door, and seconds later the bell rang.

"Oh, boy."

Han's brow furrowed at his son. "Oh boy, what?"

Ben got up and strode to the door, glancing at his mom. She was setting several plates down at the table for dinner.

Four plates.

Leia winked at Ben cheekily, confirming his fears.

"Really?"

"Yes," Leia said scoldingly. "Really. He called an hour ago. It's been a while since you two spent any quality time together, and damn it I'm going to do something about that."

Ben reached the door and reached out, hesitating before taking the handle. Boy, was this going to be an interesting evening. The door opened with a creak, and Ben looked up at the bearded, neatly dressed man smiling at him from the front porch.

"Evening, Ben."

"Hey, Uncle Luke."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Every angsty teen story has that wise, kindly older figure who ends up helping the teens to their feet.**

 **Who was going to be that figure if not Luke?** **Star Wars is often referred to as a family drama by fans and creators, and I'm going to be exploiting that fully.**

 **Going off the cameo of Galen Marek, AKA our beloved Starkiller from The Force Unleashed, I admit happily I will be including as many characters from Star Wars as I can in this little tale. Both from the old canon and the new.**

 **Some more friendly than others, of course.**

 **Next time, we'll get some personal time with Uncle Luke and his poor troubled nephew, and Rey's peaceful weekend will be interrupted by the joys and worries of a girls' night out.**


End file.
